Mike Rayan

Mike Rayyan, Strategic Relations Director - Zest (Certified B Corp)

I’m a proud Yorkshire lad with over 20 years' business management experience in the private sector. Previously, I’ve worked on strategic business growth for British Land and then moved into the public sector working for local government, where I headed up Inward Investment in Economic Development & Regeneration – attracting nine-figure investments into the Leeds City Region to boost GVA.  More recently, I’ve advised Central Government at the Cabinet Office for the Procurement Act 2023, which received Royal Assent to replace and simplify previous legislations. Currently, I hold several policy Board positions and I’m a member of the Institute of Economic Development, the Royal Economic Society, and the Institute of Place Management. I head up strategic relations for a UK Treasury backed initiative at Zest – delivering multimillion-pound decarbonisation projects to support the UK with accelerating towards Net Zero.  Also, I volunteer my time to support businesses to scale and grow sustainably and help raise large sums of money for various charities. My latest volunteering position being Board Director for the Public Sector Challenge charity, which raised over £1/4 Million for Cancer Research UK after one event, by pooling fundraising from 600+ participants from across local government and third sector organisations for this great cause.

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mjrayyan